


Kindergarten Detective

by bobs



Series: Starling Elementary [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, Slade is a bully, Starling City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:09:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4669529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobs/pseuds/bobs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which all our favourites attend the same school, Slade Wilson is a bully, and Oliver can't help but try to protect Felicity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something new I'm trying. Alternate universe - let's pretend all the rich families send their kids to public school. Enjoy!

He’s dangling from the monkey bars when he sees it happen. At first he’s sure he’s mistaken. They had, after all, just learned about kindness and how to play nice with others. Just on Monday, Mrs. Hawthorne had told them all, gathered tightly together on the brightly coloured carpet, that there was absolutely no reason to be unkind. That each and every one of them was important and special in their own way. That in their classroom they are Bucket Fillers, not Bucket Dippers, filling each other’s buckets with kind words and actions. 

Oliver’s not sure what exactly is so special about himself, but days later the words are stuck in his brain like sticky glue, along with the image of blonde curly pigtails hovering over a keyboard.

He squints into the distance, trying to make out the figures on the grass, but the sun’s shining warmly on his face and he can’t quite make out what’s going on. Whatever it is, he’s not the only one to notice. Tommy’s hanging upside down beside him and reaches over and pushes him impatiently, causing Oliver to swing back and forth.

“Did you see that?” Tommy cries indignantly, heaving himself up to grab the bars with his hands. “I think he pushed her! That is _not_ okay!” He drops to the sand with a thud and takes off before Oliver can even let go. 

Oliver lands softly in the sand below and follows Tommy into the field. When he gets there, Tommy’s bent over a small figure on the grass. She’s holding her knee, tears running down her cheeks. There’s a big grass stain on her other knee along with a growing bruise.

“Are you okay?” Tommy asks, kneeling on the ground beside her. “Did you get hurt? Do you need a Band-Aid?” He moves her hands off her injury so he can take a closer look. She watches him carefully, wiping her face impatiently. Like she’s embarrassed for crying or looking weak.

Oliver stands back, because Tommy is much better at this than he is. And Laurel Lance doesn’t really like him anyways. Not since she was working on one of those really tricky hundred piece puzzles and Oliver had bumped into the table and messed it all up. 

Laurel sniffles and shakes her head. “I’m- I’m okay, I think. My knee, it hurts though.”

Tommy opens his mouth to respond, but stepping forward, Oliver blurts out, “Did somebody push you?”

Laurel cooly looks up at him and purses her lips. “Yes. He is so nasty. And he has nothing nice to say at all, he just- he-” and then her eyes are filling with tears again and Oliver stumbles back a step because apparently it’s not just the pushing that’s the problem.

Tommy is hovering and shushing Laurel, checking her over and helping her up, and as he watches, he thinks that maybe his friend actually likes Laurel. _Likes her_ , likes her. 

Which is just, you know, gross.

Girls are gross.

But still. They shouldn’t be pushed down. And nobody should be saying mean things that make people cry. And as Oliver turns in a circle, surveying the playground, he swears he sees Slade Wilson, the new kid in their class, watching them with a slick smile on his face. Like he’s happy Laurel is in tears.

Not okay.

Oliver’s pretty sure that Slade is up to no good. Oliver’s tried to make friends with him, because he’s new and he talks differently than everyone else and he doesn’t seem to have any other friends, but Slade has been nasty at every attempt. Oliver had given up and had asked his dad for advice in this tricky situation.

Robert Queen spent most of his time in the mahogany lined office that lay off the front entranceway of the Queen mansion. Oliver had knocked, because you always knocked while his dad was working. Barging in and interrupting what could be a major breakthrough was never acceptable, but this time he was waved in with a smile. Oliver clambered into the comfy chair across from his father’s desk, the brown leather cool against his legs.

“Oliver. How was school today?” His dad had a booming kind of voice, one that was meant to be heard, but with Oliver it always took a softer tone. “What did you learn about?”

Oliver thought for a minute. What had he learned? “Well, I learned that if you want to make friends with Slade Wilson that you shouldn’t invite him to play with your superheroes.”

His dad hummed and leaned forward, his eyes on Oliver. “And why is that?”

“Well,” Oliver said, drawing out the word as long as he could. “I’ve been trying to make friends with him forever and today I tried to play superheroes with him and he pretended like he wanted to play, but then he took the Batman and ripped one of his arms off.”

Oliver looked at his hands, folded in his lap. He rubbed his thumb and pointer finger together, lashes down. To him, this inability to make a friend seemed like a failure. The Queen family always did their best to make everyone feel welcome. It had been drilled into him for as long as he could remember.

“Well, son, it seems as though this is something you can’t force.” Oliver looked up at his dad’s words, unsure about what he meant. His father smiled softly at him as he spoke. “Some people don’t want new friends. Some people are happier alone. And some people just need time to adjust to a new situation before they’re able to feel comfortable enough to let somebody new in. It sounds like your classmate is dealing with a big change in his life and maybe he just needs some space to get used to his new environment.”

Oliver had nodded, mulling over his dad’s words. His dad was always right, he was the smartest person Oliver even knew, so he had taken his advice and retreated, thinking that maybe Slade just needed some time to adjust to his new school and all the new people. 

But now, months later, he’s pretty sure that Mrs. Hawthorne’s talk on Monday about kindness had been meant for Slade and after this recess there’s no way Oliver is going to let him push around any more kids on the playground. 

This is his school, his playground. Not some new kid’s boxing ring.

Oliver narrows his eyes at Slade, sending mental daggers in his direction. Slade’s eyes meet his, staring darkly and Oliver can’t help but shiver. There is nothing good in the other boy. Somehow Oliver can sense it.

But then Slade’s looking away, eyes moving from Oliver, Laurel, and Tommy and over to the sandbox, where two girls giggle as they dump sand on each other’s legs. There is a decidedly different look there - like a hungry tiger watching it’s dinner.

Instinctively Oliver takes a step towards the sandbox, an unfamiliar swooping feeling beating in his chest, but then the bell rings and the girls leap up. They brush sand off themselves and skip towards the doors, arms linked, blonde and brown ponytails swinging side by side. He watches them pass right in front of Slade, who’s just leaning against the red brick walls, one foot propped behind him, arms crossed over his chest. Slade’s eyes follow the girls until they’re inside.

More and more kids pass in front of Slade as Tommy and Laurel are forgotten and Oliver tries to get to Slade, to tell him that he better stay away from those two girls in the sandbox, that they are absolutely off limits. He feels it so strongly, like nothing he’s ever felt before. If Slade Wilson even lays a finger on Felicity Smoak’s ponytail, Oliver’s pretty confident he’s going to lose that finger.

When he gets to where he last saw Slade he’s gone, and Oliver is left with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he heads inside with the rest of the crowd.

***

Inside the classroom is chaos, just like after every other recess. Mrs. Hawthorne helps Laurel bandage her knee in the corner by her desk, while Tommy supervises. Oliver sits by his hook to change into his inside shoes and when he stands up a large hand shoves him in the back and he goes face first into the wall.

“You better watch out, Kid.”

There’s no mistaking that voice. He can feel Slade’s presence hovering behind him, a threatening presence that causes Oliver to freeze. He’s never had to deal with a bully before and while he might have felt brave staring him down across the playground, the larger boy standing right behind him is a different story. Oliver curls his fingers around the straps of his backpack and takes a deep breath. His heart beats fast in his chest. Their hook area is pretty secluded, behind a row of shelving, so he knows their teacher can’t see what’s happening. His mind races, trying to think of the best solution.

“Hey! You leave him alone!”

The tiny voice comes from behind him and Oliver knows in an instant who it belongs to. He closes his eyes for a moment. His heart seems to jump in his chest. He feels Slade take a step away from breathing down his neck and Oliver turns as well.

Felicity Smoak stands in front of Slade, her tiny hands balled into fists, staring him down like she isn’t a whole head smaller than he is and he couldn’t just swipe out his hand and knock her out of the way. There’s a whole lot of anger in her face and Oliver takes a deep breath, a warmth enveloping his chest at this girl coming to his defence.

Felicity doesn’t pay him any attention, really. She evenly meets Slade’s gaze and Oliver watches as her eyes narrow in anger. She’s not scared of him at all.

Slade chuckles and the sound gives Oliver the creeps. “And why should I do that?” he asks. He takes a step forward, towering over top of her. Oliver is frozen, unsure of what his next move should be.

Felicity opens her mouth to retort but the wind chimes ring, the signal for everyone to meet Mrs. Hawthorne at the carpet.

“Saved by the bell,” Slade says in a low voice, “Felicity.”

Oliver sees a shiver run through Felicity’s body and he can’t help but mirror it. There’s something in the way Slade says her name that is just wrong.

Felicity doesn’t back down though, and Slade slinks around her, giving her one last dirty look over his shoulder as he walks away. Her eyes follow him until he’s gone and then they snap back to meet Oliver’s gaze.

Her eyes are very blue, but different than his own. She swallows hard and bites her bottom lip. He presses his lips together, offers her a small smile. They stand and stare at each other, eyes connected by some invisible magic, until Felicity blinks and looks away.

“Thanks,” Oliver says quietly. “For saying something.”

She gives him a tiny smile. “You’re welcome. There’s something about that guy that I just don’t like. I don’t know what it is, but I tried to be his friend when he came, because I try to be everyone’s friend, but he has some mean things to say and he uses some _rude_ words!” 

Her voice had been tremulous at first but has strengthened as she rambles. Her blue eyes open wide in shock at the thought of someone using such rude words. “They’re words that my mom _definitely_ doesn’t like because sometimes I hear them on TV and one time I asked her what the word bitch meant and she turned this funny purple colour so I’m pretty sure it’s a bad word. I would have looked it up on the computer, ‘cause I’m good at things like that, but I don’t want my mom to-” 

Mrs. Hawthorne interrupts her lengthy response by calling them both to the carpet. Felicity abruptly stops talking and her cheeks turn a little bit pink. Oliver’s not sure he followed Felicity’s rambling train of thought, but he feels this warm sensation in his chest as he smiles at her, his dark thoughts banished for now by her cheery voice. He grabs her hand, without thinking anything of it, and tugs her to follow him to join the rest of the class.

And if Slade eyes them both when they sit together, and if Oliver moves closer to Felicity in warning, well, it’s all a part of the job.

He didn’t see it coming, but Oliver’s pretty sure he’s just become the unofficial Kindergarten Detective. And the most important part of this job is now Operation: Protect Felicity Smoak.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Nancy Drew are just minding their own business when Slade Wilson barges into the reading corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another part for this one, since they're still in kindergarten. Felicity POV this time. Let me know your thoughts!

Felicity is pretty smart.

Actually she’s really smart. Like, for real, really smart.

She’s only five and she knows how to read chapter books. That’s pretty darn important. And she’s teaching herself how to take apart the old computer her mom brought home from work last month. She’s pretty close to finished, too. Her mom has no idea where Felicity learned these things, but Felicity swears on her most prized possession - her stuffed dog Bruno - that it all just comes to her, the computers just make sense in her head in a way nothing else does.

So anyways. She knows stuff. She’s a smart cookie.

Which is why this whole Slade Wilson business has been bothering her since it started. it just doesn’t make sense.

If he bothered everyone equally, she’d get it. Then he’d just be a bully. Which is a bad thing to be, especially when you’re only five, but Felicity mostly understands about bullies.

But Slade doesn’t spread his bully-ness around equally. Sure, he makes snarky comments to lots of kids in their class. He does it pretty quietly so she doesn’t think Mrs. Hawthorne realizes. The other kids seem to brush it off and continue with their lives.

However, Slade seems to have a special little place for Oliver Queen. And not the good kind of special place, like Felicity’s super secret reading spot. He goes out of his way to do things that he knows will hurt or bother Oliver.

Like, she knows that Oliver really cares about his friends Laurel and Tommy. They’ve known each other since they were babies and their parents are all friends too. She knows that Slade knows that too, so he goes out of his way to needle Laurel until she’s upset. He bothers Tommy until Tommy snaps at him and gets into trouble for shouting in class.

Slade never seems to do anything in particular to Oliver, but she can tell that Oliver is bothered anyways. He always has this sad look in his eyes now, one that Felicity really wants to help him get rid of, but she’s much better at fixing computers than she is people so she keeps her distance.

Until one day, Slade seems to think that if he goes after her, Oliver will get just as upset.

She doesn’t know where he got that idea. Oliver is her friend, sure, but everyone is friends in kindergarten, and it’s not like they play together every day or anything. They sometimes sit at the same table at lunch, but really, there’s only so many tables to choose from in their classroom. Felicity is not someone Oliver will get upset about, and that’s definitely okay because she doesn’t want to be another reason Oliver gets sad eyes.

Felicity is on her own, as usual, nestled amongst the comfy pillows and under the big hanging leaf that signifies the reading corner. She’s reading a new Nancy Drew chapter book - although she guesses she can’t really count it as new, since they were published in the 1930’s, but it’s new to her, and she thinks that Nancy is pretty awesome. She solves all her own mysteries and she’s basically a kid, just like Felicity. Felicity thinks maybe she’ll grow up to be a Nancy Drew detective one day, only with more computers to help her, instead of the silly friends Nancy keeps around.

She’s totally engrossed in the story when a body flops down beside her. She can see out of the corner of her eye that it’s Slade and so she doesn’t acknowledge him, keeping her focus on the book in her hands. 

He’s still for a few moments and she mentally crosses her fingers that what all the teachers told her was true: if you ignore bullies, they’ll get bored and move on. But then he’s wiggling his body even closer, his shoulder touching hers and it makes her feel icky and uncomfortable, so she wiggles away.

“What are you reading?” His voice is low and he’s leaning close to her, closer than she’d like.

Felicity leans away, giving him an unimpressed look over the top of the book. “Nancy Drew. Can you please move over, you’re too close to me,” she adds, never one to back down from a fight.

Slade ignores her and smirks, making Felicity wrinkle her nose. “Felicity,” he says, drawing out the syllables of her name in a way she doesn’t really like. Sometimes Oliver does that, makes her name all long and gooey, but when he does it, it sounds so nice and warm, like a fuzzy blanket. When Slade does it, it’s like the scritch-scratch of nails on a chalkboard. “Nancy Drew, hm? That’s funny. Doesn’t Nancy live with her dad?” 

Not sure where he’s going with that random comment, she just nods. There’s nothing wrong with what he’s said, but Felicity knows that there’s something else coming. Across the classroom she can see Oliver and Tommy, both bent over the tower they’re constructed from the big wooden blocks. Slade follows her eyes, then snorts under his breath, shaking his head. Felicity snaps her eyes back to focus on Slade, giving him her best ‘you aren’t bothering me at all’ look.

He leans closer, like he’s going to tell her a secret. Felicity freezes. “Do you ever wonder why your dad didn’t want to stick around and do his job?” Slade asks, his whisper sneaking past her stern exterior and into the cracks of her heart. “Was it something you did, something he didn’t want to deal with for the next eighteen years?”

Felicity stares at her classmate. He looks at her like he’s asked her if it’s sunny outside. She can feel the tears building up in her eyes and he evenly meets her gaze as though he hasn’t just said the one thing that can make Felicity cry in an instant. 

Slade opens his mouth to say probably another nasty thing about her family, but Felicity leaps to her feet, hot tears spilling onto her cheeks as she takes off for somewhere that is nowhere near Slade Wilson, leaving her book behind. She’s not really paying attention to where she’s going and doesn’t stop until she hears a loud “Hey!”

She’s run right through the block centre, knocking down the tower that Oliver and Tommy had been working so hard to build. 

“Watch where you’re going, Felicity!” Tommy shouts, drawing all the fallen pieces close to him, as though someone else is going to sneak up and snatch them away. “We worked so hard on that, for _ever_.”

Felicity looks at the ground and mumbles an apology. She can feel Oliver looking at her. He seems to be weirdly in tune with what she’s feeling. He always knows when she’s upset or angry. She quickly turns away because she does not want to tell Oliver Queen and his perfect family about her own messed up problems and how she's so weak, Slade Wilson can make her super upset with only a few words. 

“Hey, Felicity. Wait!” Oliver is following her, and eventually there’s nowhere to go. Their classroom is only so big. Felicity turns around, presses her back against the wall, and slides down until she’s sitting. She draws her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs. She can still see Slade watching her from across the room; he’s turning her Nancy Drew book over and over in his hands. Turning her eyes to the side she lays her cheek on her knee, letting out a sigh.

Oliver slides down beside her, careful not to get too close. Somehow he knows to do that. He looks concerned, which makes sense because now she’s definitely crying. 

“Felicity, are you okay? What happened?” His voice is soft and even though she’s a tough girl she wishes she could snuggle in closer. Oliver looks like he’d be snuggly. Like a big teddy bear. “Did Slade say something to you?”

She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, takes a shaky breath, and then meets Oliver’s gaze. “Yeah, he just- well…” For as kind as he’s been to her, Felicity doesn’t really know Oliver that well, so she doesn’t really want to get into her really, super personal thoughts and feelings just yet. “He’s just not very nice, Oliver. I’ve tried to be friendly, to include him in stuff and it doesn’t help anything.”

Her tears have stopped and she wipes a hand over her cheeks. Oliver watches her, that sad look that she really really doesn’t like in his eyes. 

“I think it’s my fault,” he says quietly, after a minute. “I’m sorry.”

“Oliver, how can it be your fault?” she asks, lifting her head from her knees to stare at him incredulously. “He’s mean, he probably doesn’t like that he had to move across the planet to go to school at Starling Elementary, that’s all.”

Oliver shakes his head. “No, it’s more than that,” he insists. “He doesn’t like me. I don’t know what it is, but I look at him and I can tell. It’s something in his eyes. And he knows that I, uh, that you’re my friend, and now he’s going to try and make me mad by making you sad.” He meets her eyes and looks so sure of himself that Felicity can’t help but believe him.

“I don’t like it when you cry,” he adds quietly, looking down at where his hands rest on his folded knees.

Felicity feels a fluttering in her tummy and her heart gives an extra little thump at Oliver’s quiet admission. She reaches out and covers his hand with hers, giving his fingers a little squeeze. 

Boys are gross, but Oliver looks like he could use some cheering up too. “Well, Oliver Queen, I don’t really like crying either,” she informs him, wiping her eyes one more time. “So. Let’s do something that is much more fun than sitting in the corner feeling sad.”

“Do you want to help Tommy and I rebuild our tower?” he asks, not letting go of her hand. “I don’t really need the help, but Tommy is not the greatest tower builder.” He whispers the last part like it’s a secret and Felicity giggles, looking over at where Tommy is pouting over a small pile of blocks.

She nods and Oliver scrambles to his feet, pulling Felicity along with him and leading her over to the blocks. 

Later, when she’s in the bath, her mom sits on the floor beside the tub as Felicity piles bubbles on her chin like an old man. She tells her mom all about her day, filling the room with chatter. Her mom looks pretty upset when she repeats what Slade said to her, but she gets a soft look in her eyes when Felicity tells her about Oliver’s kind words and how he helped to cheer her up. She’s not sure what her mom is thinking, and Donna Smoak won’t say a word, even when Felicity badgers her until bedtime.

“Don’t worry, baby girl. You are so smart, and beautiful, and kind. Oliver Queen sees that in you and soon this Slade nonsense will stop because he’ll see the same thing. If he doesn’t he definitely isn’t worth your time or your tears.” Her mom presses a kiss to her forehead, tucks the comforter tightly around Felicity and turns out the light. “I love you. Sleep tight.”

“I love you too. Night, Mom,” Felicity says, the last word coming out as a yawn.

Her mom shuts the door halfway, the way Felicity likes it, and she snuggles down into bed, closing her eyes. Bruno is tucked under her arm, her pillow smells like comforting lavender, and her mom’s perfume lingers in the air - everything is in it’s place. 

The last thing she sees before slumber takes her is a pair of blue eyes smiling at her.

**Author's Note:**

> **This is not how you should deal with bullies, kids. Always tell an adult.
> 
> I have many more ideas for this universe. Let me know what you thought, if there's something in particular you'd like to see. Each story will be a one-shot in this series.


End file.
